My name has been submitted as a nominee for the next President of the International Council on Systems Engineering. INCOSE has asked me to create a position statement and submit a picture and bio for them to post on the website. I've included it here so that you, my readers, get first look!

The election begins in November and is open to all active INCOSE members as of October 1, 2012. Electronic and paper ballots will be sent out the first week of November and voting closes November 23rd.

From INCOSE: Systems Engineering is an interdisciplinary approach and means to enable the realization of successful systems.

As I reflect on the INCOSE definition of Systems Engineering, I cannot help but focus on the “inter” element meaning “to cross.” Innovation only happens when you reach out and genuinely collaborate with a greater ecosystem.

So, let's focus on the core term interdisciplinary. The expectation of today's consumer (which can be a government, a person or an industry) is “more and more and more”. This places significant demands on the organizations creating these products to find the “next new thing, quickly – but at less impact to the environment, oh and cheaper....”. Increasingly we rely on software as the innovative element and use advanced materials and manufacturing techniques to quickly bring the product to market. The increase in software function brings even more complexity in the development processes and systems themselves – placing even more demands on the discipline of Systems Engineering and elevates the systems engineer role higher in the organization.

The demand on environmental safety and lower cost manufacturing challenges us to be open to new, innovative ways of doing business. To address these challenges, I believe that we as the Systems Engineering community must even more deeply understand the complete product lifecycle, from concept, through to development and production, and ultimately retirement and disposal. We must proactively expand our education, sphere of influence, and evolve and define the guiding principles alongside the product development processes themselves.

To achieve these goals, I will guide INCOSE to focus on these 3 core competencies:

Invest in our future through increased focus on youth outreach and university initiatives. Through my extensive work with youth, I have found that their passion, innovative out-of-the-box thinking and commitment to science and technology is contagious. They need a body like INCOSE to embrace them – and mentor them – while we learn from their modern views of where we need to be when they have our jobs. If we do not, we as an organization risk irrelevance to our next generation.

Expand our sphere of influence with an “inclusive community” approach. By this, I mean reaching out to the larger ecosystem of professionals who are stakeholders in the systems engineering and development process but may major in a specific expertise outside of our own (ie analyst relations, marketing, finance). The perception of SE must change to embrace the larger ecosystem.

Extend our reach into parallel industries experiencing systems engineering challenges. More and more, I see industries like medical devices, transportation, electronics and energy grappling with similar challenges as those who build missiles and airplanes. They have people performing systems engineering duties, but do not consider themselves systems engineers. They often do not have a set of standards or stakeholders with expertise with these issues. This presents a significant opportunity for INCOSE to provide value and guidance to a new population who desperately needs our expertise.

Finally, since INCOSE is a global organization, it must have a leader with global experience. I have held numerous positions with world-wide responsibility over the last 25 years – each requiring me to understand the cultural, business and technology challenges and spend time in the countries themselves. In my current role at IBM, I lead a large globally distributed team charged with the development of Systems Engineering Solutions for worldwide adoption including the products and industry best practices that you use every day: Rational DOORS, Rational Rhapsody, Rational Team Concert and Rational Quality Manager.

I have specifically visited and done business in the following countries to date:Asia Pacific: China, Australia, Hong Kong (both before and after unification), Indonesia, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand

At IBM Greg leads both the strategy and development of Rational's product development platform, which is designed to address the needs of Systems Engineers and Embedded Software Developers based on industry best practices and leading products Rational DOORS, Rational Rhapsody, Rational Team Concert and Rational Quality Manager. Greg joined IBM through the Telelogic acquisition in 2008, where he served in several positions ranging from field engineer to sales executive to Vice President of Product Management over his 25 year history. Prior to joining Telelogic, Greg was with McDonnell-Douglas and then Honeywell Air Transport, where he led a software and systems team creating crew station displays for fighter aircraft and commercial jetliners.

Greg earned a Bachelor's of Science in Electrical Engineering (BSEE) from the University of Missouri and is an Association of International Product Marketing and Management (AIPMM) Certified Product Manager.

Greg is the IBM ambassador to INCOSE, representing over 400,000 employees, and is a member of the INCOSE Corporate Advisory Board. He currently is the INCOSE Associate Director for K-12 Youth Outreach and is creating a vibrant, fun presence at our Symposia for kids and attendees. Greg has served on a number of INCOSE technical committees ranging from Requirements to MBSE to Tool Interchange and is currently pursuing his ESEP certification. Greg also is a Board Member of the INCOSE Central AZ Chapter and was a key force in recruiting new leaders and re-founding the chapter in 2008. Under the new leadership, CAZC has also created one of the largest INCOSE Student Divisions in partnership with Arizona State University.

Outside of work and INCOSE, Greg is a father of 2 teenage boys and acts as Committee Chair and executive leader of Boy Scout Troop 301 in Mesa Arizona (and is an Eagle Scout himself) and mentors a championship FIRST Robotics team. He also is past President of the American Sand Association, a 20,000 member organization that advocates full access to public lands.